Personal use and subsistence road trips provide salmon harvest opportunities

Personal Use and Subsistence Road Trips Provide Salmon Harvest Opportunities

I heard multiple reports from personal use and subsistence salmon fishing trips to the Copper River near Chitina after last weekend, and everyone was talking about catching salmon. I heard reports of poor fishing, fair fishing, and very good fishing, so success sounded partially dependent upon specific times and specific locations along the river. One long-time Copper River participant told me he had never seen so many people camping and participating in the fishery. Two factors likely contributed to the throng of people fishing over this past weekend — first three days of high ADF&G sonar counts in the range of 40,000 - 60,000 fish per day passing Miles Lake, indicated this could be the largest push of salmon headed up the Copper River during 2024, with a portion of that abundance likely passing through the Chitina area over last weekend. The other information, likely influencing personal use dip netters to participate over the weekend, was the previous week’s Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) issued emergency orders, closing the Copper River drainage personal use and sport fisheries to king salmon harvest starting on Monday June 24: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzQVxHdzrlCgcGKlVqzlmDRdjzMP

King salmon harvest will remain open in the Copper River subsistence fishery, however, Alaskan households who already obtained a Copper River personal use permit are ineligible to get a state Copper River subsistence permit during the same year. With the amount of king salmon harvest that has already occurred in the commercial, subsistence, personal use, and sport fisheries it remains to be seen whether king salmon conservation concerns may close or reduce priority subsistence king salmon harvests later in the season.

Kasilof River — The personal use dip net fishery I mentioned at this Kenai Peninsula location last week has opened (for Alaskan residents) and should remain open through the first week of August. As mentioned previously an Upper Cook Inlet household personal use permit is required to participate, and specific fishery regulations are listed in the paperwork. This is the first significant Upper Cook Inlet personal use dip net fishery to open each year, and because of king salmon concerns restricting Cook Inlet saltwater fisheries, there will likely be a large harvestable surplus of Kasilof River sockeye salmon available throughout the entire season. With earlier run-timing this fishery can often have the best catchable numbers of personal fish through mid-July. The Kasilof River sonar count of over 87,000 sockeye salmon , through Sunday June 23, indicates a strong early season abundance, with upstream migrations topping 6,000 fish every day since sonar counts started on June 15. While I have not heard a report from the Kasilof personal use fishery, a friend of mine who was sport fishing at Kasilof River, recently, mentioned that anglers flipping flies along the banks appeared to be harvesting good numbers of sockeye salmon.

Susitna River and Fish Creek — I mentioned personal use and subsistence fisheries as road trips in this column’s headline since the earliest opening Mat-Su personal use fishery will be the lower Susitna River personal use fishery, which will open on Wednesdays and Saturdays only, from July 10 - 31. The second Mat-Su Valley personal use fishery, at Fish Creek, near Knik -Goose Bay Road, only opens by, emergency order, once sufficient sockeye salmon are projected to pass upstream of ADF&G’s Fish Creek Weir. According to ADF&G fisheries biologist, Samantha Oslund, the department plans to install Fish Creek Weir during the first week of July — July 19 is the earliest I can remember this fishery opening in the past decade. Finally, Upper Cook Inlet’s largest personal use fishery, Kenai River, will be open from July 10 -31.

Sockeye Salmon Sport Fisheries — I mention this as a secondary item, since very few sockeye salmon are likely present in Mat-Su Valley streams at this time — I have only heard of two sockeye salmon harvested from a Mat-Su Valley fishery this season. For anglers willing to explore in search of an early season Mat-Su Valley sockeye salmon, a few late June / early July sockeye may be available at Fish Creek, Cottonwood Creek, Knik River / Eklutna Tailrace, 405 have swum past Little Susitna River Weir through June 23, and a few scattered sockeye salmon are also likely available throughout the Susitna River drainage. Reminder: In waters of the Little Susitna River and Susitna River drainage normally open to king salmon only single-hook artificial lures with a gap between hook shank and point of 1/2 inch or less may be fished through July 13. For road trippers better sockeye salmon sport fishing harvest opportunities should be available at Gulkana River to the North, and Russian River and Kasilof River on the Kenai Peninsula in the coming week.

Eklutna Tailrace King Salmon — Samantha Oslund mentioned she had been hearing a few reports of anglers catching king salmon, primarily early in the morning near the Eklutna Tailrace / Knik River confluence. She also had a report from a department employee that some king salmon have been scattered at locations all along the 1/4 mile tailrace. Reports I have heard from the more turbid Knik River, below Eklutna Tailrace, are of slow fishing, with a few king salmon still being caught.

Deshka River and Little Susitna River King Salmon Status — Through Sunday June 23, ADF&G had counted 2,402 king salmon passing Deshka River weir and 136 king salmon passing Little Susitna River Weir. Those king salmon passage numbers indicate king salmon spawning escapement goals (9,000 - 18,00 Deshka and 2,100 - 4,300 Little Susitna) will likely not be attained for either river in 2024 — even with both rivers closed to sport king salmon fishing for the entire season. In recognition of these king salmon escapement shortages, it was encouraging to see ADF&G issue a Northern District commercial fishing period closure for Thursday June 27, to better conserve king salmon still migrating toward their rivers of destination.

Here’s hoping that conservative salmon management by ADF&G will result in significantly better numbers of harvestable surplus salmon available in Mat-Su Valley streams during the remainder of our summer season.

Good Luck and Fish On!